Enrique and Ruby Fundraiser
Hello Friends of Enrique and Ruby Madrid!
If you are opening this fundraiser page, you have very likely been transformed in deep and meaningful ways by these two amazing people. And, undoubtedly, you are among a large community who’ve been mentored, educated, and instructed on the local Jumano Apache culture, history and philosophy from the generosity and hospitality embodied by Enrique and Ruby.
Perhaps you learned how to cook the best tasting refried beans you have ever had.
Perhaps you learned the mathematical formula of how to make a perfectly round tortilla as you stood in their kitchen rolling out your first amoeba-shaped attempt!
While in Redford and La Junta, and certainly when you left for your next adventure, you probably experienced a noticeable shift in your understanding of the gaps in your education about “the border” and “border peoples.” Maybe you sat with Enrique and Ruby in their living room for hours learning about the nature of reality and the true implications of the God Particle in quantum physics, or the ways in which archaeological evidence in the Rio Grande Valley provides the story of how human communities adapted to their environment.
Many of you received Enrique’s teachings and in-depth tutorials on the May 20, 1997 shooting of Esequiel Hernandez, a high school student who was tending goats on his own family's private property, by US Marines operating covertly in Redford. Many of us are keenly aware of how Enrique and Ruby led the community to directly challenge the increasing militarization of the border, and confront the racist and ahistorical disinformation that fueled senior officials in the White House to believe that Redford, TX residents were somehow "enemies" of the United States.
Maybe you have known Enrique and Ruby for so long, you remember Enrique’s mother, Lucia Rede Madrid, who was honored for her literacy work with children in Redford with the Ronald Reagan Award for Volunteer Excellence (1989), and the President’s Volunteer Service Award by President George H. W. Bush (1990).
Many of us returned and returned, drawn into a sense of kinship, relationality, and care. Enrique and Ruby extended their sense of belonging, as Indigenous peoples to place, with humility. Through their way of being, they have taught all who visited them a way to live with a deeper sense of respect, responsibility, reverence, and relationality on Earth. They changed our worldview.
As we all know, it has been Enrique’s and Ruby’s life mission to teach anyone who walked into their lives everything they could as a way to promote a love of the region and a deeper understanding of social and environmental justice issues that relate to the Indigenous culture, history, experiences, and ongoing social, economic, and political struggles in the region. They have always been givers and have never asked for anything in return.
Now is the moment for us to give back–as a collective. Enrique and Ruby are needing our collective help.
Background
Last June, Enrique and Ruby had some very serious medical issues that prohibited them from being able to care for themselves and each other. As their health deteriorated, they both ended up hospitalized. They are currently stable and doing well living together in a nursing home in Fort Stockton.
Unfortunately, Enrique and Ruby have been unable to even visit Redford for the past 8 months. Their house, which was abandoned when they were taken to the hospital, is completely uninhabitable due to many structural issues in the building itself, in addition to weather and related issues.
This fundraiser has been organized by a small team of us who have been working directly with Enrique and Ruby over the past 4-5 months to listen to their needs and visions. And, building on their directives and mandates, to figure out a concrete plan that would support their livelihoods and the future of their estate.
That plan, which involves a series of separate initiatives, has finally taken shape, and it requires your help in funding this vision!
For this first stage, our goal is to quickly raise a MINIMUM of $30,000 to get a strong start with all initiatives. Please keep reading for more details!
The Plan
1) Initiative #1: Have a safe place to live when visiting or living in Redford:
a. Immediate:
Update the house next to the old elementary school with the required elements needed to prove they have a safe place to stay when they visit Redford (i.e., making needed improvements for their disability and mobility needs, in addition to general updates).
Given the immediacy of this need, we would use part of the funds raised to work with a local contractor in Ojinaga to do this work. We will prioritize that local Jumano-Apaches and Lipan-Apaches be recruited for paid compensation for their labor contributions to this initiative.
b. Long-Term (within the next year):
Repair and reconstruct one of the apartments behind the main house to be fully wheelchair accessible in order to provide a long-term housing option.
While this would typically require more than the $30,000 goal, we believe we can get fairly far in this effort if we rely on volunteer labor of “Friends of Enrique and Ruby”.
Just imagine the FUN and gratifying possibilities of the “Friends of Enrique and Ruby” reunion work parties we could all have together!
2) Initiative #2: Clean, catalog, and preserve the Madrid Family Collection, including the extensive library, documents, records, photographs, artwork, archives, antiquities, and artifact collections, and memorabilia, including all intellectual property. The Madrid Family Collection is currently in disarray and becoming increasingly damaged inside the house.
Immediate: Secure the existing home from further damage.
This means rehoming the feral cats that have been living in and out of the home.
A full hazmat cleanout of all biological hazards from the home.
Fixing and/or boarding up broken windows and actual holes that exist between the inside of the house and the outside world, and, fixing locks and doors.
b. Long-Term (within the next year): With Enrique's and/or Ruby's guidance, all family collections and intellectual property in the main house will be cleaned, cataloged, and archived.
This initiative would be led by Margo Tamez, (Lipan Apache; Jumano Apache), who is also a dear friend of Enrique and Ruby.
The extended Madrid family, and the Jumano Apache and Lipan Apache nations of Texas have a very strong interest in preserving the memories, family histories, and intellectual property of its tribal members.
Enrique and Ruby have been inspirational forces for all of us who have come into contact with them throughout our lives. While this is an ambitious plan, we are VERY committed to following through on it. But we can’t get far without EVERYONE’s financial support. ANY amount will help! We promise that EVERY penny of your donation will go toward making this plan a reality.
This is a private fundraiser and is not connected to a non-profit organization, so unfortunately your donation is not tax deductible. If you have any questions at all, please feel free to email Pablo Stayton: pabstay@gmail.com.
Thank you for your donation!
Pablo Stayton, Margo Tamez
